Colombia’s illegal gold mining “bigger than cocaine”

General Luis Martinez a senior police official said, “this is the biggest source of funding at the moment for illegal armed groups, bigger than cocaine… the (criminal) economy this is generating is extremely worrying”.
In the Colombian market, gold is worth over 20 times more than cocaine gram-for-gram according to police.
Colonel Wilson Chaparro, the man in charge of policing illegal rural mining said, “these people are also bringing technology that’s not permitted and damages the environment, they’re teaching Colombians to extract gold. It’s a perverse and illegal knowledge transfer.”
The mining techniques in practise are reportedly damaging the environment with the deposit of cyanide and mercury as a by-product of the gold extraction. Whilst Colombia’s own organised crime groups are believed to be using the trade as a source of funding, police also believe that much of the gold is exported illicitly abroad.
http://www.mininginnovationnews.com/2014/11/19/columbias-illegal-gold-mining-bigger-than-cocaine/